Musings From The Love My Dress Soiree

By Elizabeth Muhmood Kane

Wednesday 3rd August started with a train picnic along with my lovely blogger pals, Charlie of Fifties Wedding and Louise of Bijoux Bride, as we made our way up to Newcastle for an evening of vintage glamour and wedding industry ‘networking’ at the much anticipated Love My Dress Soiree.

We were excited about the night ahead…little did we know just what a fabulous night we had in store!

The Report:

Excuse me while I imagine I’m writing a swanky party report for the back pages of OK, complete with shameless name dropping!

The Venue: The iconic Baltic Centre in Gateshead, Newcastle, UK had a beautiful rooftop patio with magnificent views over the River Tyne. We were greeted by gorgeous flapper girls with trays of prosecco at the entrance and were absolutely itching to get our hands on our pretty name tags and goodie bags.

The Decor: The main room was dripping with vintage style from the retro radios and classic typewriters to the antiquarian chaise lounges and the amazing disco ball that had the whole room shimmering. The florals adorning every spare surface by Bel’s Flowers and By Appointment Only Design were insanely beautiful. There was a gorgeous vintage esque dessert bar featuring ‘heart pops’, shoe cookies, pink macaroons and other such treats in charmingly eclectic jars and containers created by The Boutique Baking Company and Ava Event Styling.

The Refreshments: Flapper girls with trays of bubbly prosecco floated around the venue while dapper waiters handed out lamb skewers and duck pancake canapes and there was a delightful cocktail list including the delicious ‘raspberry romance’. There were also sweet treats from the dessert bar up for grabs ~ the mini pink meringues were lip smackingly good ~ literally. {It’s hard to look elegant while scoffing a crumbly, chewy meringue but who cares when they taste so good!}

The Host: Annabel of Love My Dress was a vision in a bespoke baby blue tulle prom dress by Dana Bolton of Once Upon A Time dresses and intricate headpiece by Kat Swank. Despite being in high demand throughout the evening she carried herself with such grace and greeted everyone in the room with warm, friendly smiles. She gave the loveliest speech, explaining how much her life has changed since she started Love My Dress and thanking everyone for coming.

I was so pleased to have a few moments for hugs, to congratulate her on a FABULOUS evening and grab a quick photo. Annabel has been such an amazing inspiration, not only when I was planning my own vintage wedding but she has also been so supportive of me and Bridal Musings ~ it was great to have the chance to thank her personally.

Being an early years teacher, and a shy one at that, networking, shmoozing, mingling and all those other scary words don’t come easily to me ~ we don’t do much of that in nursery! However, the atmosphere at the Love My Dress soiree was unlike any other wedding industry event I’ve attended ~ it was a relaxed, gathering of like-minded people who just happened to be dolled up to the nines!

To be honest, I didn’t speak to half as many people as I would’ve liked to but I left that night feeling happy that I’d connected and reconnected with some truly lovely wedding industry folk. It was a truly wonderful night ~ well done to all involved!

I just want to say a big hello and thank you to the following people as they helped to make my night so very enjoyable:

~ Neda has written a lovely write up that captures the glamour, yet the relaxed feel of the night. Big thanks to her for sharing her photos with me.

~ Madison of The Pastel Pirate Wedding Blog shares her experience of the soiree from a bride’s perspective as does the lovely Frankie of Love Audrey who was sporting a classic, chic look that Audrey Hepburn would’ve approved of!

~ Charlie of Fifties Wedding treated us to a ‘Saturday Special’ post full of all the juicy details and lovely vintage photos.

~ Michelle of Pocketful of Dreams‘ account is like a comedy of errors but despite the mishaps Michelle & her friend Jane had a fab time!

Elizabeth is the founder of Bridal Musings. She fell head over heels for weddings in 2010 when she married the love of her life. A few of her favourite things include: lace, peonies, travelling, yoga and Haribo cherries.